The Scottish Enlightenment (Scots: Scottis Enlightenment) was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy.[1] The culture was oriented to books,[2] and intense discussions took place daily at such intellectual gathering places in Edinburgh as The Select Society and, later, The Poker Club as well as within Scotland’s ancient universities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Sharing the humanist and rationalist outlook of the European Enlightenment
of the same time period, the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment
asserted the fundamental importance of human reason combined with a
rejection of any authority which could not be justified by reason. They
held to an optimistic belief in the ability of humanity to effect
changes for the better in society and nature, guided only by reason. It
was this latter feature which gave the Scottish Enlightenment its
special flavour, distinguishing it from its continental European
counterpart. In Scotland, the Enlightenment was characterised by a
thoroughgoing empiricism
and practicality where the chief virtues were held to be improvement,
virtue and practical benefit for both the individual and society as a
whole.
Among the fields that rapidly advanced were philosophy, political
economy, engineering, architecture, medicine, geology, archaeology, law,
agriculture, chemistry and sociology. Among the Scottish thinkers and
scientists of the period were Francis Hutcheson, Alexander Campbell, David Hume, Adam Smith, Dugald Stewart, Thomas Reid, Robert Burns, Adam Ferguson, John Playfair, Joseph Black and James Hutton.
The Scottish Enlightenment had effects far beyond Scotland itself,
not only because of the esteem in which Scottish achievements were held
in Europe and elsewhere, but also because its ideas and attitudes were
carried across the Atlantic world as part of the Scottish diaspora,
and by American students who studied in Scotland. As a result, a
significant proportion of technological and social development in the
United States, Canada and New Zealand in the 18th and 19th centuries
were accomplished through Scots-Americans and Scots-Canadians.